A star in their charge
Alan Davies, head groom to Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin
“SHE’S quite a princess!” says Alan Davies of Charlotte’s current top horse, Mount St John Freestyle. “She’s nosey, keen to work and please – and loves parties.”
Alan keeps her calm and interested at shows with “lots of one-on-one attention, hand walking and seeing the sights”.
Freestyle had never flown before Alan took her to the World Equestrian Games in 2018 and was understandably fractious when she noticed that she was somehow becoming airborne. But Alan recalls: “Bringing her home after she’d won two medals, she coped so well, trusting me implicitly to put her on different trucks and crates, and following me on to planes.”
It’s an intimate relationship.
“Getting to know the horses’ characters when you go to big shows, you build such a rapport,” Alan says. “We worked out I’d travelled 75,000 miles with Blueberry [Valegro]; that’s three times around the world.
“The joy of seeing these horses try their heart out on the world stage is so emotional. That’s why I wear sunglasses at big
